The Acolyte of Spirits and Curses

Klein reached out and his hand closed around the shaft of her spear before she could react, twisting it lightly until her grip broke and the weapon slipped free from her fingers.

Shui Yinran blinked in surprise, and her hand remained half-raised where the spear had just been before her eyes narrowed slightly.

"...Oi."

Klein ignored the tone completely as he adjusted his grip on the spear, turning it once in his hand as if testing its balance.

"How many forms did Annika teach you in Dark Moon?"

"...Four."

Klein gave a small, thoughtful hum as he absorbed that "Only four, huh?"

Then he shifted the spear slightly in his hand, lowering its tip toward the ground "I’ll teach you the next one."

Shui Yinran’s brows furrowed "...The next one?"

Klein’s lips curved faintly "The fifth form."

He lifted the spear slightly, "Dark Moon: Full Moon Eclipse."

Shui Yinran’s pupils shrank just a little, "Full Moon Eclipse... You’re not joking, right?."

Klein turned the spear once more in his hand and stepped back, "Watch."

Shui Yinran didn’t speak again.

Her entire focus locked onto him as she adjusted her stance slightly without realizing it, and her instincts were already preparing to read the movement that was about to unfold.

His spear moved in a slow, controlled arc through the air with no rush, yet carrying a strange kind of inevitability that made it impossible to look away.

Shui Yinran stared at it without blinking as she consciously understood what she was seeing.

The path of the spear continued, flowing from one motion seamlessly into the next without any break or hesitation.

Then the tempo changed.

Klein’s body stopped for a second, and in that instant, the entire sequence collapsed into one decisive action.

The spear struck.

There was no unnecessary flourish, just a clean, absolute line that carried all the weight of the previous movements within it, like the full moon being swallowed by shadow in a single moment.

Shui Yinran’s body reacted on instinct as she brought her hand up to intercept, but the moment her hand collided with the spear, she blinked in surprise, because the force didn’t explode outward like she expected.

It pressed, driving straight through her defense and into her arms.

"Ugh-"

Her feet slid back across the cracked stone, and the ground cracked beneath her heels as she was forced several steps backward before she could stabilize.

Her breath hitched slightly as she stared at him, "...What was that?"

Klein lowered the spear slightly, "Full Moon Eclipse."

"When everything unnecessary is removed, what remains... it’s certainty."

Shui Yinran just stared at him as her mind replayed the motion again and again, trying to grasp the structure behind it, the transition, the compression, and the final release.

"...That was beautiful," she muttered under her breath, more to herself than to him.

Klein tilted the spear slightly and extended it toward her.

"Now try it."

"...Don’t regret this," she said quietly as she stepped forward and took the spear back from his hand.

Shui Yinran inhaled slowly as she attempted to replicate what she had just seen, though even she could tell that understanding it and executing it were two completely different things.

Her spear moved, and it wasn’t as clean as how he did it, but the intent was there.

As Klein watched silently, he was genuinely amazed ’She saw it once and is able to replicate it this much?’

’She really is an absolute genius.’

Shui Yinran continued the motion, and her brows furrowed slightly as she tried to stabilize the flow of the technique, trying to recreate that same compression of intent she had witnessed moments ago.

But she couldn’t get the hang of it "Stop."

She stopped immediately and glanced at him "...What now?"

He stood in front of her "Your base is unstable."

Before she could respond, his hand reached out and lightly adjusted her arm, shifting the angle of her grip just enough to correct the line of force.

"Don’t lock your shoulder like that. You’re cutting off your own movement."

Then he stepped to the side and reached down, pressing his fingers against the outer part of her thigh as he shifted her stance wider a little.

He grasped her hips with his palms firmly against the curve of it as he guided her center of gravity backward into a more balanced position.

Shui Yinran’s body stiffened.

"...Hey."

A faint flush crept up to her face.

Being corrected was one thing, but having him casually grab her arm, thigh, and hip in the middle of an empty training hall was another.

She kept her eyes fixed forward as she endured the adjustments without pulling away.

Shui Yinran swallowed faintly, "...You’re awfully comfortable."

"I’m teaching you."

"...You’re touching a lot for someone ’just teaching,’" she muttered under her breath.

He ignored that entirely.

"Move."

She exhaled slowly and reset her stance exactly as he had positioned it and her body settled into the alignment he forced her into as she tightened her grip and let the motion flow again.

The arc came out smoother, and the weight behind the motion carried through her entire body instead of breaking halfway like before, and for a brief moment her eyes widened slightly as she felt the change in real time.

’...What?’

She completed the motion without interruption this time, and when the sequence ended, she stood there for a moment in shock, as if confirming that it wasn’t a fluke.

Her eyes trembled in disbelief ’His knowledge about spear... and the Dark Moon technique... far exceeds mine.’

’What the hell...?’

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she glanced at him ’He is just twenty-one years old...’

’How could someone like him have this kind of understanding...?’

It wasn’t just technique or skill.

It was the way he saw through her flaws instantly and how his adjustments corrected not just the movement but the foundation beneath it, as if he had walked this path so many times that every mistake had already been experienced and refined away.

’...It’s like he has lived through it all already.’

A quiet frustration stirred within her, because ever since she first picked up a spear, she had always been the one people called a genius and the one who stood ahead without needing to look back.

’I thought I was the best genius when it came to the spear.’

Her eyes flickered again toward Klein with a complicated mix of irritation and reluctant acknowledgment.

Klein rolled his shoulders and muttered "Keep practicing it until eventually you will master it."

"Call me if you want this Master’s help. I am leaving."

Shui Yinran: -_-

’This bastard really know how to irritate me.’

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